Anastasia – What a Journey!

Last week, my mom and I got to go to Russia and Paris, all in one night! Really! OK, we didn’t actually go there…but I swear it really felt like we did! So, how did we do it? We went to see Anastasia on Broadway, and it was one beautiful journey!

The story is about a girl named Anya (played by Christy Altomare) who may or may not be Princess Anastasia of Russia, who (according to rumors) escaped when her whole family was killed and is still alive somewhere. Her grandmother (played by Mary Beth Perl), who lives in Paris and loved her more than anything in the world, is offering a reward to anyone who can bring her back to her. They haven’t seen each other since Anastasia was a little girl (see little Anastasia below played by the adorable Nicole Scimeca), and they listened to and sang a beautiful song called “Once Upon a December” from a music box that grandma gave to Anastasia to remember her by.

Two guys named Dmitry and Vlad (played by Derek Klena and John Bolton – he’s so funny!) get an idea to bring her a fake Anastasia so they can collect the reward, so they hold auditions. A girl named Anya walks in and even though she wasn’t there for the audition, they pick her to be their fake, long-lost Princess! They teach her how to dance and act like a Princess (this was one of my favorite parts! The song is called “Learn to Do It” and the dancing was amazing!). It takes a while for them to figure out that she actually IS Princess Anastasia – but when she winds up the music box that Dmitry shows her, she starts to remember her past….

So they use a diamond that Anya had sewn into her dress (yeah, she’s a Princess for sure!) to get train tickets to Paris so she could find her grandmother, the Dowager Empress. The train ride part was soooo cool! It really looked and felt like they were on a speeding train!

Unfortunately, though, they have to jump off the train to escape the police and end up walking the rest of the way to Paris. When they get there, Vlad meets up with his old girlfriend, Countess Lily, played by Caroline O’Connor, and the two of them are very funny together with all their dancing and kissing! Anya finds herself on the beautiful bridge that was named for her Grandfather and the pieces of her life start coming together even more.

As for the grandmother, she has given up on ever finding Anastasia…but now Anya knows she really is Anastasia after remembering when Dmitry bowed to her when they both were young! I loved that part and that song, called “In a Crowd of Thousands.” Both my mom and I got chills! So now she had to find a way to make her grandmother know for sure that she is the true Princess. Oh, and also while she was doing that, she had to make sure she didn’t get killed by a man named Gleb, who was sent to finish the job and finally make sure there are no more members of the Romanov family left alive.

Hmm I think that is enough of the story to make you want to go see it for yourself to see what happens next! If the story isn’t enough for you, see it for the costumes! Glittering crowns, fancy dresses, everything was so beautiful on that stage! And it wasn’t just the costumes that were beautiful. The scenery was totally amazing!
I have been to so many Broadway shows and I can tell you that I have never seen anything like this. Glowing lights and moving water in the background made us feel like we were really in Paris. You have got to see it to believe it! Ghosts dance around the whole theater too! It was magical and beautiful and I’ll never forget that show. Definitely go see Anastasia on Broadway – this is one journey you will love to take, and you don’t have to travel far at all!

The Mom here! Waverly and I loved the show, and so did everyone in the audience. The crowd went wild more times than I can remember during any other show we’ve ever seen (including Hamilton!). It was a lovely story about finding yourself and you don’t have to be a Princess to relate. Yes, the scenery was absolutely incredible. And even though it was June, I saw the snow outside the windows and for a second, it really was December.